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Does the AMEX Business Platinum Pay With Points Perk Work for Family Member Airfare?

January 8, 2017
by
Million Mile Secrets Million Mile Secrets

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And there are no restrictions on using the Pay With Points perk for others. So you can book flights for friends or family members and still get 50% of your points back!

Using Pay With Points to Book Airfare for a Family Trip Can be a Terrific Way to Save Points for Folks With the AMEX Business Platinum Card

Keep in mind the way you redeem points using Pay With Points depends on the airline you select.

Unless you select Southwest or Spirit Airlines, you’ll have to book airfare directly through the AMEX travel portal to get 50% of your points back.

For example, if Delta is your selected airline and you’re booking coach airfare, you can enter the number of passengers traveling on the travel portal page.

On the AMEX Travel Portal Page, You Can Use Pay With Points to Book Airfare for Multiple Passengers

After you redeem points for the flight, you’ll automatically get 50% of the points back within 8 to 10 weeks. Remember, you’ll need to have the total number of points required to pay for the flight at the time of booking.

And if you have Southwest or Spirit airlines selected as your airline, you can book airfare directly through the airline website.

Then, after the transaction posts to your account, you can call AMEX Membership Rewards at 800-297-3276 to request they apply points towards the charge.

To Use AMEX Pay With Points for Southwest Airfare, You Can Book Directly on the Airline Website. Then, Contact AMEX to Apply Points to the Charge

Again, you’ll have to wait the same amount of time to get 50% of the points back in your account.

For folks with the Companion Pass, this is a great way to book Southwest airfare. Because you can apply AMEX Membership Rewards points toward your flight. Then, add your companion to your reservation. You can even use AMEX Membership Rewards points to cover your companion’s taxes and fees.

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Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)

1comment

Here’s the issue I’m running into with Platinum pay with points. American is my preferred airline. I want to purchase business class fare using points for the price difference between coach and business. I would guess this is common for business travelers whose company only pays coach fare. Now that AMX and American have the insider fare deal going on you only see the insider fare if you are logged in. You only get the insider fare if you pay 100% with points and the is no way to see the public fare so you can’t pay part with cash and part with points.

I’ve had to log out, book the public fare and call American express rewards to have them manually apply points to the purchase. Now I have to wait and see if the rebate comes through as it should. I hope they fix this on the website. It’s a real hassle.

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)